Photography graduate Katie Pycroft on her career driving an articulated lorry

Little did she expect her professional life to be behind the wheel of an articulated lorry.

Katie was always a keen photographer and graduated from the University for the Creative Arts in Farnham.

She spent a couple of months freelancing as a press photographer at the Echo but didn't know what to do as a long term career.

"I think there's this idea that you walk out of university and straight into a job, but photography is so competitive and it didn't happen," says the 24-year-old from Hampshire.

Katie went to work at Marks and Spencer, unloading lorries and then in sales, but in the back of her mind was the idea of driving lorries.

She'd never even been in a lorry cab and didn't know anyone who was a lorry driver, but she was always fond of lorries.

"Whenever we went on family trips, me and my dad would spot lorries, I just loved then," she says.

Before she launched herself in to a new career and shelled out on expensive courses and qualifications, Katie's mum treated her to an articulated lorry experience, to see if she really did like being behind the wheel.

She adored it and set about qualifying as an articulated lorry driver.

"I borrowed some money and paid for my class one and two licences. At the lessons, everyone assumed I wanted to drive a horse box, because that's the only thing they'd have any women through for before," she says.

"There are very few women lorry drivers. Since I've started driving, I've seen no more than four, but my gender has never held me back.

"When I go to a drop and get out of the cab, people do do a double take when they see that I'm a woman, but I've never had anything but positive feedback."

Katie now works day shifts for Maritime Transport, based in Nursling, Southampton, but started out driving long distances for an Eastleigh-based company.

Katie admits that she hadn't thought much about the lifestyle of a lorry driver before she qualified, and did find it hard at times when she was 'tramping' – sleeping in her cab overnight.

"I did miss my family sometimes when I parked up at the side of the road, turned my engine off and it was just me," she says.

"My company didn't pay for me to park up in service stations, so I'd sleep in laybys or on industrial estates and my family worried about my safety, but once you close your curtains, there's nothing to draw attention to you.

"There was a bed behind the seats and I had my pillows, duvet, flowers in the window, a diffuser so it always smelt of lavender and my unicorn lights.

"I made it my home, because really it was. There was a fridge, a kettle and a little stove. I'd have a shower in a service station before I went to park.

"I had to be really organised because I didn't want to turn into a stereotypical lorry driver and live on junk food, plus I'm a vegetarian, so I'd make things like soup, a chilli or big salads on Sunday night and keep it all in my fridge, so that I could have proper healthy food when I was on the road."

Katie says that she did have some concerns for her own safety when she began sleeping in her cab.

"My company didn't pay for us to park up in service stations but I paid for it myself to start with," she says, adding that this cost between £20 and £30.

"But you're really paying for access to a toilet and to help keep your lorry safe. Service stations are so expensive for what you get. They are really geared up for car drivers. The showers are often grotty and the food courts just have junk food, or you can pay £8 for a jacket potato, which is ridiculous.

"Lots of drivers won't stay there for this reason. Truck stops are much better. You get proper hot meals and they are cleaner and cheaper, but they're dying out, unfortunately."

Katie never felt personally threatened but was shocked to wake up to find, on separate occasions, that her fuel had been stolen and the curtain on her lorry had been slashed, although nothing had been stolen.

Katie, who is engaged, was generally away for two to three nights a week, sometimes more, and was glad to move to a job which meant she could return home and sleep in her own bed at night.

She loves her job and is keen to encourage more people, particularly women, to consider a career in transport.

"I did want a career in photography, but the kind of photography I enjoy is fine art, and there are very limited career opportunities in that," she says.

"I definitely see it as something I'll return to, but probably in my spare time.

"At the moment, my fiance and I are saving up to buy a house, and I need to be in a job that pays well, and this really does."

Katie adds that she feels young people aren't sufficiently encouraged to consider a career in transport.

"We had career days and jobs like hairdressing, nursing or the in armed forces were promoted, but nothing to do with the transport industry," she says.

"There is a massive shortage of lorry drivers, according to the Road Haulage Association. I'd love to see more diversity in lorry drivers."

Katie has set up a blog, www.54mph.com, to encourage more people to consider a similar career path and also to show lorry driving in a positive light.

"You see the news stories about lorries getting stuck under bridges or a motorway being closed because a lorry has been involved in an accident. I wanted to show the positive side," she says.

"Today, I've had a lovely quiet drive and I'm at a farm now. It's so varied."

Katie adds that she thinks all drivers need to give more thought to others on the road.

"Some lorry drivers get so stressed out, but that car is going to pull out in front of you no matter what you do, so there's no point in getting all cross about it," se says.

"It's a 44 tonne vehicle, so you can't drive it like you would a car.

"I cycle too, so I see lorries from a cyclist's perspective as well as the other way around.

"I know what it's like when lorries pass too close, so I don't pass if I can't give enough space.

"I am a cautious driver and I stay cool and calm.

"It would help if other drivers had more understanding of lorries too. They pull away very slowly, so when a lorry is pulling out slowly at a round about, it might have been clear when they committed to the manoeuvre but then someone comes round at 40 miles an hour and gets very cross that the lorry is making them slow down.

"It's ironic really," she adds.

"It's pretty much lorries that get all goods from A to B. Whatever you want buy in the shops, from food to clothing to garden furniture, is going to have been delivered by lorry, but no one wants to be stuck behind one, give way, or let one out!

"It feels like there's almost an anti-lorry culture. People just don't have the patience.

"Everyone on the road could do with seeing things from other drivers' perspective a bit more and being a bit more patient!"